Improvement in grain-driers



H. aI BULKLEY;V

Grain-Briar.

Patented A'ug. 20,1872.

Illllnl I lllllllll ".Wnesggg UNITEE STATES HENRY e. BULKLEY,

on NEw vonk, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN GRAINDRIERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 130,564, dated August20, 1872.

SPEcrErcATIoN.

I, HENRY G. BULKLEY, of the city, county, and State of N ew York, haveinvented certain Improvements inDrying-Kilns for Grain, Malt, Spices,Salt, Sac., 0 which the following is a specification The Nature andbject of my Intent/012.

The vinvention relates to improvements in driers; and consists inthecombination, with a drier of fire-proof material, of hopper, fireprooftubes, slides, andA chutes, under the arrangement shown and described,so that the grain shall pass from the hopper, through the tubes, whichare surrounded by a steam atmosphere surcharged with heat, and bedischarged when sufficiently dry for removing.

The object of my invention is to afford a safe, rapid, and cheap meansof drying, cooling, and curing, to arrest or prevent fermentation ingrain and other substances, in order to add to their value for shipmentor use. This includes corn in the ear and all substances that need to beseasoned or dried, and which can be passed through tubes thus arrangedand heated, whether large or small. This arrangement can be readilyattached or built adjacent to the ordinary bins in use, and will drygrain, &c.,

while passing by their own weight through the bin to the elevator.

' Description of Drawing.

Figure 1 is a perspective View, having a part of the front and end welltorn away.

A A are the loutside walls, made of re-proof materials. B B are thetubes through which the grain, &c., passes, and in which they are dried,and may be of any fire-proof material. C4 C are slides at the lower endof the tubes for regulating the discharge of the grain, &c. D D arechutes for discharging the grain, 85e., from the tubes to the outside ofthe drier. E is a door closing the lower end of the chutes D D. K K L Lis the hopper on top of the drier, into which the grain is poured. H isa pan for making steam. G is the furnace or heater. J J are smoke-pipesconnected by Ts and, extending through the wall A. I I are stoppers forcleaning the smoke-pipes. a a are spaces between the pipes.

Operation. Elevators or store-houses are usually constructed with binssufficiently elevated for cars to run under the bins to be iill'ed.Taking advantage of' this fact, I construct the drier either directlyunder the bin or so adjacent to it that the grain will run from the bininto the drier; and as fast as the grain is dried it can be passed fromthe drier into the elevator and deposited in the bins for storage orshipment. It can also be so constructed that the graintubes shall be inthe bottom ofthe bin, while the heat is brought to them in pipes fromthe furnace located at a distance.

Construction..

In order to accomplish the double purpose of making the fire-roomentirelyfreefrom danger by re to the building as well as to make a rapidand efficient heat, I inclose the room `or space below the grain-binwith a brick wall.

In this fire-room is placed a good stoveor heater, with the fire-dooropenin g out so as to supply the fuel from the outside. The smoke andrefuse heat are taken out at the back end of the stove, and are thenmade to traverse the firechamber several times its length in order tosave the heat from wasting into the chimney, and also to add efciency tothe heat to be used in drying. If the' heat and smoke are passed througha sufficient length of pipe it will not only save a greater portion ofthe heat from waste, but will make it impossible for any sparks to leavethe reroom. For convenience of cleaning the smoke-pipes without removingthem from the fire-room or taking them apart, the ends of the smoke-pipeare allowed to pass through the outer wall at one or both ends of thefire-room, and have their ends closed on the outside by Stoppers, whilethe smoke connects on the inside from one pipe to another bymeans of a Tor connecting-pipe. The length of the smoke-pipe to be used will dependupon the draft to the chimney, since the better the draft the longershould the smoke-pipe be, in order to utilize all the heat. Thesmoke-pipes should be large-not less than twelve inches in diameter. Thegrain-bin should be arranged with separate passages for the heat andgrain or'other substance, so that the heat may circulate freely in allparts of the bin and the grain, &c., may be drawn out at just such astage in its drying as shall be found most desirable. To explain, insome cases it may be desirable to season or cure grain or othersubphere.

stances without making them quite dry, as, for instance, it may bedesirable to check the heating or fermentin g propensity of the grainjust sufficiently to be able to get it to market, and

yet not lose so much of its weight in the sale as would be done if madeentirely dry. In another case the grain may be intended for shipment ona long voyage, and should be made quite dry. The entire kiln can be madefireproof in the following manner, to wit: Lay across the bottom of thebin some old railroad or other iron bars, on which to rest the tubesthrough which the grain is to pass while being dried in the bins. Ifcommon drain-tile be set one above the other in tiers and the entire binbe filled with such tile set in tiers, then the bin willA be constitutedof these grain passages. By passing the grain through the inside ofthese drain-tiles, the heat from the furnace or nre-room will ascend inthe spaces between the tiers of drain-tile, as shown by a, a. To giveadditional levity to the heat, as well as to avoid injury to the grainor other substances by overheated air, I place a pan of water or othersuitable generator, for making just so much steam as is necessary toexpel the air from the fire-room and grain-bin, and then use this steamatmosphere for the convection of the heat in the kiln in place of an airatmos- In some cases the substances to be dried may have such a surplusof moisture as to make nearly or quite as much steam as will be neededfor expelling the air from the kiln. In the .case of substances wherethere is a great excess of moisture to be generated into steam whilebeing dried, provision must be made for passing out of the kiln of allsurplus steam, while a steam atmosphere must at all times be retainedfor the safety of the drying substance from scorching,as well as for therapid convection of the heat, and at the same time to save the heat inthe kiln, by the wellknown ability of steam to hold heat as latent. Thissteam atmosphere, to which heat is constantly being applied, is rapid inits movement and peculiarly efficient in penetrating the substances tobe dried, so as to dry the center as as well as outside portions.

It'is sometimes supposed that seasoning and drying are the same 5 butsubstances may be seasoned and not dried, or dried and not seasoned. Bythis steam method both seasoning and drying may be performed at the sametime,

while the drying may be arrested as soon as the seasoning or curing hasbeen effected.

By placing a thermometer in the kiln the heat can be so regulated as tosecure the' proper seasoning and drying of the various substances; andby simply drawing a slide at the bottom of each tier of tubes in thedrying bin so much of ,the grain may be discharged at once as may havebeen made sufficiently dry for removing.

As rapidly as the dried grain is removed from the bottom of thedrying-pipes they are again filled from the top, which causes the dryingto be perpetual. By this process the grain is removed from the kiln withno other power than its own gravity and at any desirable stage of itsdrying, by simply drawing a slide, C C, and allow the grain to run aslong as it is sufficiently dry 5 and then, by closing the slides, theremainder ot' the grain in the tube is retained until it is alsosufficiently dried. The tubes or passages through the drier may be madeof any desirable size, to accommodate the passage of differentsubstances, such as grain, corn on the ear, Src. The size or capacity ofthis drier may be increased at pleasure, and to any desirable extent, bysimply multiplying the number and height of the tubes and by increasingin an equal ratio its power for generating heat.

lVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

In a drier of lire-proof material, the combination with the furnace G Jof the hopper K L, fire-proof tubes B exposed to heat as described,slides G, and chutes I), all substantially as set forth.

HENRY Gr. BULKLEY.

Witnesses:

L. E. HoLnnm G. H. BULKLEY.

